Thursday, 1 October 2015

Objectives of Performing Functional Testing

Software testing is one of the
most important and integral part of the software development life cycle, which
is gaining importance day by day. Not only does it checks the performance,
efficacy of the system, but also strives to make the system a better one.
People are starting to take heed of the fact that the success of a software
depends hugely on the testing procedure performed on it. The software testing
procedure starts off before the development process and lasts till after the
development has been finished. While the whole process is an elaborate one,
functional testing is an integral part of the process.

Functional testing basically
deals with the checking of the functionality of a particular product, but it
packs a little more punch to the process. It not only checks how the software
is functioning or the defects that are produced in the result, but also other
related things which may affect the function of the same. Certain objectives
are to be kept in mind while performing the functional tests on a product.

The
main aim of the functional testing is to check of the given piece of product is
delivering the results which it was desired to i.e. it is functioning properly.

Just
checking the functionality at a controlled environment is not enough. The
product should be checked for proper functioning at adverse situations which it
may face in the real world.

It
is not uncommon for the end users to mal handle the product, hence the functionality
of the same may get affected in such situations. Functionality testing checks
the software for such adverse occurrences.

Often,
it may so happen that the product is being utilized for a long period of time.
This may cause overloading of the system which in turn affects functionality.
Functional testing checks how the product works even after prolonged
utilization.

Functionality
testing checks how the system is behaving when a wide range of valid inputs are
supplied to it in a chronological or haphazard method to see whether it
provides the correct output or not.

At
times, the end users may end up feeding the product with invalid inputs. The
behaviour of the product in such cases is also tested by functionality testing.

Apart
from testing the individual components of the software, functional testing also
checks how the system is working as a whole when the various components will
have to depend on each other.

It
also checks the system of the product to see whether it delivers the desired
results.

Another
major job of the functional testing is to detect all the simple failures that
may cause rejection of the product at the very basic level.

Functional
testing is done to check the modifications that will make the product more
acceptable to the targeted customers. It basically concentrates more on how to
satisfy the customers with the functional aspect of the product than the
designing aspect.

While you are performing a
functional test on the system, it is best to keep the above objectives in mind
in order to get the maximum output from the procedure. However, there are many
more aspects which you can take heed of while performing the test apart from
those mentioned in the article.